After the Highly Acclaimed Trilogy, the movie industry decided to adapt The Hobbit! This time, we could watch as Bilbo went on an adventure with lower stakes and a much weaker cast all around. Surely the film could still be a success as long as we got some good character development in there right? Well, I’m afraid that isn’t entirely how the film went.

I still remember the first time that I saw the Hobbit trailer. It looked terrible and the effects looked really dated. It’s a problem that the whole LOTR franchise suffers from and I didn’t expect it to get much better, but I wanted to see some change. Ah well, maybe next time! The plot involves Bilbo Baggins as he is forced into an adventure by Gandalf and his “friends”. Bilbo must help them retake their homeland and defeat the mighty Smaug!

We’ve got the plot out of the way, but it’s so simple right? How could this last for 2 hours!? Well, Bilbo puts up a fuss and the film makes sure that we see unnecessary things. The dinner party at the beginning of the movie lasts for a very long amount of time and usually it would have been much smaller in a different film. When I say that it shows unnecessary things, I’m referring to extra gestures or filler scenes that are present. Maybe an extra scene of Bilbo walking for no reason or an epic zoom in on a character that stays for a little too long. The films tend to drag out each and every scene until it’s extremely long. It’s like walking into a building made of steel and then adding some metal on it. In the Hobbit, we understand what is happening and would prefer if the movie could pick up the pace.

This is a bit of advice that I’ve used for all of the films, but I’ll say it again. The film should be shorter and they could take out a solid hour and the film would be better off for it. They could definitely condense some scenes and they could have literally taken 10 minutes off of the dinner scene. Maybe the sequels will do better in the time frame part, but I have my doubts.

Bilbo is a much better main character than Frodo so that definitely helps the film out. I’m not really a fan of the character, but he is easier to sympathize with. He is currently able to resist the ring’s influence and he tries to be heroic. His plans don’t always succeed, but he’s braver and more dependable than Frodo. A main character can make a world of difference and while it did not save the Hobbit, it did make the film more enjoyable. It definitely would have been a lot worse if Frodo had been around.

Gandalf is still around, but he continues to look weak and he even becomes a bully of sorts. He has a bunch of his friends break into Bilbo’s house and they eat his life supply of food that he had hidden. That’s not a very nice thing to do and they never gave him money or any sort of compensation. Bilbo doesn’t have any food in his house anymore and that’s not something that he should forget so easily.

It’s a bit of a running gag at this point, but it should still be noted that Gandalf is a bad magician. Bilbo directly tells Gandalf this and the old man seems to be disturbed at the statement. Gandalf is in no position to argue this since he spends the film running away from villains or using his sword to fight. He rarely uses magic and it would seem that he doesn’t have that much magical energy. Gandalf is definitely not an ally that you want at your side.

I won’t really get into the main cast since they all seem like throwaway characters at this point, but I’ll at least mention Thorin. He’s the rightful heir to the area that is enslaved by Smaug and he aims to take it back. This is a noble gesture, but it’s one that is definitely misplaced. He doesn’t comprehend how weak he is, even after he is defeated several times during the films. He’s not really a match for random trolls and he is effortlessly defeated by Azog. Does Thorin really think that he can defeat Smaug in this state? He’s definitely deluding himself and he’s going to lead all of his friends to their deaths. One can’t really blame him for trying to stay away from the elves, but he should also realize that his little crew doesn’t stand a chance without their help.

Azog is one of the big villains so he definitely deserves a mention. It’s unknown why he’s so much stronger than the average minion, but he’s defeated many opponents and he’s also pretty large. He’s definitely a fighter that will keep on appearing, but I can’t say that I appreciate him as a villain. He’s still just a generic minion to me…he just got lucky and acquired super abilities.

Smaug doesn’t really appear much, but it’s easy to see why he may be defeated. He’s sleeping among the riches, which means that he hasn’t been training for decades and he’s barely moved. He’ll be out of shape and not really ready for his climatic battle. This likely will not be addressed, but it will lead to his downfall. Smaug is a cool looking dragon, but he’s not as intimidating as the characters suspect. Still, he’s definitely a rich dragon!

Gollum also appears in this film. If you liked him in the original three films, then you’ll like him here. I still can’t root for this guy because I didn’t like his backstory and I just never really liked the character. Bear in mind the fact that I don’t like any of the humanoids in the franchise, but I just did not like him. He gets to fight with Bilbo Baggins in this film, (in another really long scene) but that’s about it as far as his role goes. Maybe he’ll appear again, but it would be as necessary as the rock giants coming back.

The special effects of the film still look awful. The fire from Smaug didn’t look bad and the rock monsters were all right, but the rest of it still looks old. This is intentional of course, but I still can’t disregard that so easily. I don’t want to watch something that looks old on purpose! That defeats the whole cinematic experience. I don’t mind things that adapt the old times, but they should still look new. It’s what the fans expect after all!….or at least it’s what I expect. There is no soundtrack to speak of, so I will skip that part.

The Hobbit is the start of a new trilogy and it will be interesting to see how it fares. This film already felt like it had a slow pace, so I can only imagine how the next two films will feel. I do have some mild hopes that it will surpass the original trilogy, but it will definitely be a close battle. It would appear that Legolas will be coming back in the sequel, which is a good start. This definitely isn’t my kind of film, but that makes reviewing them so much fun! I’m not a fan of the franchise, but I can safely say that I am a fan of the video games and that’s what counts in the longruns. Video Games>>>Movies over 90% of the time.

I almost skipped the negatives section! Well, I’ve already mentioned most of those while writing the actual review. This can be considered as more of a quick summary for the negatives. The film drags on too long and none of the characters are particularly likable. The fight scenes are still really bad and far too realistic/graphic/not fun/old for me to really get into them. There’s no real soundtrack and there isn’t really a sense of danger. The main characters are all rude and the film has quite a few gross scenes. That’s a few too many if you ask me! That’s basically the array of negatives in a nutshell, but I could likely think of more if I really tried.

Overall, The Hobbit is better than the final Lord of the Rings film and it can hold its own against the first two. It improved in some ways, but stayed the same in most of them. I definitely can’t recommend this film and I would sooner tell you to watch the inevitable Dragon Ball Evolution sequel. Fans of LOTR should like it, but those fans have likely seen it by now. To the rest of you, I recommend playing the LOTR video games for Gamecube instead. Contrary to popular opinion, they’re actually pretty fun and sufficiently tough. They’ll eat up more time than the films, but it’s completely worth it!

Overall 3/10